The Gut: Week 1

Ladies and gentlemen I would like to welcome you to the first installment of the gut, a weekly look at sports as seen by one of the coolest dudes around. That would be me. For the first weeks we will focus on the NFL. I will pick a few games a week to showcase and let you all know my “gut” feeling on them.

Jacksonville Jaguars ï¿½vs.- Houston Texans

This game reeks of boring. Two teams who aren’t very good. Houston has their future starting now in second year sensation David Carr, who not only has game but an uber hot wife, and more importantly for this game an offensive line who isn’t gonna get him killed like they did last year when he was sacked an NFL record 74 times. What’s the gut’s feeling on this game? Well take one livened up defense in the young Texans group, add a couple of offensive weapons for Carr to throw to like speedster Andre Johnson and you might have a winner. But Jags QB Mark Brunell has a lot to play for with Byron Leftwhich breathing down his neck.

Gut Feeling: Expect the wily veteran Brunell to pull his team through this game 20-17

Philadelphia Eagles ï¿½vs.- Buffalo Bills

Through the first two games of the season did any team look better than the Bills? Or maybe a better question is did anyone look worse than the Eagles… well other than everyone’s favorite JV football team the Jets. Something strange happened in week three though. The Eagles had off so they could rest and the Bills defense was on the field for over 40 minutes!!! That just can’t happen this week if the Bills want to have a chance of winning, and it wont. As great as Donovan McNabb is with no help from “I’m worse than a smelly” Duce Stalley and the rest of the nobodies on this eagle offense expect Drew Bledsoe and the rest of the Bills offense to light it up like the Godfather.

Gut Feeling: The Eagles continue their first to worst trend as the Bills destroy them 27-10

San Diego Chargers ï¿½vs.- Oakland Raiders

Two teams that have been god-awful to start the season, The Chargers made a few mistakes over the off season. One name that comes to mind in a big way is David Boston. This guy just doesn’t come to play, another writer said it best when he said “We could not be more down on Boston right now. Literally, if you can get a handful of feminine napkins in the exchange for Boston, you should think long and hard about pulling the string.” And what do the raiders have going for them? Steve Young… I know he’s retired, but I got this feeling watching Rich Gannon after he got pulled in the Denver game on Monday night. Call it a “gut” feeling but he looked like Steve Young after the Eagles game years ago. The Eagles beat the 49ers by over 40 points and Young got pulled in the second half and sulked on the sideline and kept his helmet on the way Gannon did on Monday night. The 49ers went on to cream the Chargers in the Super Bowl that year. I’m almost positive former Niner and current Raider Jerry Rice knows what I’m talking about.

Gut Feeling: Deep threat Jerry Porter is supposed to be back this week to take some of the pressure off of Rice and Brown. And don’t expect another poor showing from Garner and Gannon again. Raiders roll 29-13

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Baltimore Ravens

Priest Holmes is the truth. He’s the first running back since Barry Sanders that will gain 4 yards and I will be like “what, only 4 yards.” Priest can beat you with his running and his receiving. I’m surprised we haven’t seen a Priest pass yet. I haven’t even mentioned all world Tight End Tony Gonzalez or the MUCH improved KC defense. And if you can stop Priest and score on their D, they have one more way to beat you. Dante Hall had a hundred yard kick off return in week 2 and a 73 yard punt return for a score in week 3. To sum it up, the chiefs have it all, except Ray Lewis that is. Can one player make that big of a difference? Especially someone who isn’t a quarterback? Well yes, just ask Joe Theisman or Ron Jaworski if Lawerence Taylor could turn a game by himself. Lewis is no LT, but in perspective he does play a more important position at the middle linebacker spot. And Jamal Lewis did just break the single game rushing record against the browns 2 weeks ago.

Gut Feeling: The Ravens keep it close, but with all I just mentioned this game is going to come down to the experience of each teams quarterback. KC gets big numbers most games from Trent Green and Baltimore rookie QB Kyle Boller just isn’t ready for a game of this magnitude yet. KC wins 25-15

Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Jets

In my suicide pool this was my game of the week, I feel pretty confident that I could use the Jets almost every week and pick whomever they were playing to win and I would go deep into the pool. Lets face it guys the Jets have an aging running back in Curtis Martin, a 40 year old signal caller in Vinny Testerverde, and the oldest, slowest set of linebackers in all of football. And how bout them cowboys! Now I have to admit I’m a diehard Giants fan and this pains me to say, but the Cowboys are on their way back. They have one of the most talented defenses in the league led by the old man Darren Woodson and Roy “biscuit” Williams. Not to mention that they have one of the top receiving cores in the league as well. Say what you want but there is no way “instant offense” Quincy Carter throws for 320 yards against my G-men without them.

Gut Feeling: Dallas is young and talented and the Jets are old and all their talent went to the Redskins. Tuna likes to beat his old teams and does so again 32-10

Arizona Cardinals vs. St. Louis Rams

This is going to be an intriguing game. I hate most things from Arizona but the Cardinals aren’t one of them. I am banned from watching any game between the Giants and Cardinals because when I watch the Giants lose. But this is a match up of two teams who don’t know who they are yet. Can back up rams running back carry the load in St. Louis while the Marshall plan is out 4-6 weeks with a broken hand? Will Mike Martz ever run the ball more than 15 times in a game again? And as for the Cardinals, is Anquan Boldin the real deal or a flash in the pan rookie who got off to a hot start? And why pay good money for the NFL’s all time leading rusher in Emmit Smith and not get him the ball?

Gut Feeling: I’m really pulling for the Cardinals, Arizona has gone through enough torment with having to take Lizzie from New York and they deserve something good. I don’t see it happening because Marc Bulger has something to prove and I think he does it against the Cards weak D. Rams 24 Cards 17